An Author's Commentary: Iunctus
by DeadlyBacon50
Summary: This is a side project dedicated to the readers of my crossover story, Halo: Iunctus. Think of it like a Director's Commentary found in the Special Features of a DVD or Blu-ray movie. With every new chapter or two I make for Halo: Iunctus, I will make a "section" dedicated to the thoughts and opinions I had while writing the story. This is merely optional; a way to connect. Enjoy.
1. Beginning Note

**Halo: Iunctus**

 **An Author's Commentary**

Beginning Note

Hello, and welcome, to all the readers of my story, Halo: Iunctus.

This side project, which is an accompanying piece to my Halo x Naruto Crossover, is something I thought up after passing the 100 Followers landmark. After reading the reviews and seeing how well my story was doing after not even a month on the site, I began wanting to find better ways to connect with my readers. A way to give you all a peek inside the mind behind it all. I also noticed the bickering and differences in opinions within the review section, and thought I wanted a way to communicate with you all in a better environment.

So without further ado, I present to you An Author's Commentary.

An Author's Commentary is similar to, let's say, a Director's commentary for a movie on a DVD or Blu-Ray. With every chapter posted in Halo: Iunctus, starting from Chapter 4, First Contact, I will be making an accompanying chapter on here talking about my thoughts, opinions, motivations, and the overall work I had to do to write. "What went through my head when I wrote this," or, "what was I thinking when I wrote that," or, "what encouraged me to make this happen?" Generally, it will be things like that.

As a Follower and/or normal reader of Halo: Iunctus, you do not, whatsoever, need to read this in order to enjoy and/or understand the original story. This project is nothing more than a way to connect and communicate with my readers, and it is completely optional. The choice to read this or not is entirely up to you, the reader.

Now, with the introduction out of the way, I'll jump write into it. Starting with the first three chapters of Halo: Iunctus, we'll begin with how the story started from just a simple, enthusiastic idea to a project slowly rising in popularity.

Thank you, and enjoy.


	2. The Start of an Adventure

The Start of an Adventure

Halo and Naruto.

Two stories so utterly different from each other, a person would have to be mad to think a crossover can ever make sense. The level in which their lore and ideas conflict cause finding a way to make it all connect and work seem impossible.

Yet I did it.

One day, after reading through a collection of the most popular Halo Crossovers on FanFiction, I asked myself a question: What makes writing a Halo-Naruto story so difficult? If I am to be honest, the answer came really damn quickly:

They are just so _different_.

Disregarding the fact it's a video game, Halo is a Military Sci-Fi. It takes place over five hundred years in the future, near the end of a three-decades-long galactic war where Humanity is on the brink of extinction. It shows us a future similar in tone to the Terminator movies; a future threatened by darkness, ever looming danger, and the destruction of life as we, the Human race, know it.

Beneath the fun gameplay and often cliché, yet still lovable characters of the games, there is a universe filled with tragedy and war. One where a person never knows if they or their loved ones will live to see another day. In a world like this, both men and women alike must make a single decision: Fight, or die. There is no middle ground in this war of extermination Humanity has found itself in. There is no hope for peace and diplomacy. The enemy you face is numerous, ruthless, and battle-hardened. They give no quarter. In this world, there are no civilians. Only soldiers. If you do not have a gun in your hands, you are doing something important back in the society still remaining on Earth or her surviving colonies. You could be on a farm producing the food needed to feed the troops or in the factories making the tools used to kill the enemy. Either way, you are contributing to the war effort. You are part of the fight that will dictate the fate of the Human race.

In Halo, we see a desperate Humanity on the edge of losing its war for survival. Most of its colonies have been overrun or annihilated entirely by enemy WMDs. Even with all the technological advancements, it seems none of it is enough in the face of a relentless and fanatical alien empire that has had millennia longer to perfect its way of war. We have been driven to a corner, and now the future of the entire Human race rides on the actions of a single supersoldier. A man who was bred for none other than war itself.

The Master Chief.

The telling of his story, however, is for another time.

In the universe of Naruto, its story is a Fantastical, Young-Adult Action/Adventure. The setting takes place in an alternate universe and planet Earth heavily influenced by Feudal Japan, and where select members of the Human race own control over this unexplainable force of power that exists in their bodies: Chakra. The history behind this Chakra is convoluted at best and, in the beginning of the story, no one really knows for sure the origins of it all. All they _do_ know is that it gives them near-supernatural powers. The people of the world in Naruto use this power not for good, superhero-like deeds, but instead as merely another instrument of warfare.

How fitting of Human nature.

In this world, however, we are not fighting for some noble cause. We aren't fighting for the very survival of our civilization. There is no common enemy attempting to exterminate every man, woman, and child. In this universe, we face the same foe that has plagued our species since the dawn of recorded history: ourselves.

In Naruto, Humanity is heavily factionalized. And when that is mixed with heavy militarization in the form of Ninja armies – those with the power to weaponize Chakra – that rarely ends well. Nations and factions wage war all the time, with Shinobi often being used as mercenaries and assassins when they are not on the frontlines. The world is bloody, war-torn, and, if looked at closely, is one that endorses child soldiers. Ninja in Naruto often begin training at a very young age and tend to make their first kill – or die – by the time they hit their teenage years. This practice goes to show how twisted the moral system in this world can be.

However, what makes Naruto so different from Halo is the ideals and morals behind it, which may be surprising considering how much of a contradiction that is. While the focus of Halo's story is about the desperation and ugliness in a war dictating who we are as a species, Naruto's is more about the struggles we face as individuals and how the bonds we forge define who we are as a person.

Naruto is a story about the single person, or more specifically our main character. At first, it begins as a tale about how a child in this world, Naruto Uzumaki, dreams of climbing to the top in his village's leadership. Not for simple power and authority, but because he has nothing else to live for. He is a degenerate who's not very smart and often pulls pranks to get attention. On the inside, though, he is kid suffering from loneliness and the cruelty of people who hate him for something he, initially, has no knowledge of. He is nothing more than a child seeking the warmth of love and friendship.

Eventually, the story progresses closer and closer to our main ideas: the struggles of keeping our friends and loved ones safe, and the burden we must sometimes bare when we lose those people. As Naruto Uzumaki gets older, he slowly learns of the reality he lives in. The life of a Ninja is not all fun and games. They are not knights in shining armor out to save the princess. The truth is, Ninja are weapons of war, no better than the common soldier. Uzumaki, at heart, is a kind and peace loving child, but he is eventually faced with the threat of his loved ones dying in war and tragedy. Over time, his reason for becoming a ninja changes from doing so for acknowledgment as a Human being to doing so for the sake of protecting the people around him.

This a story about self-worth, and the struggles people often face in the grim reality we live in; a reality plagued by conflict among ourselves. It shows perfectly in the journey of Uzumaki as he transforms from a foolish kid in the streets playing pranks, into the strongest warrior and most respected leader of his people after years of adversity. In the end, Naruto is a tale of hope, friendship, and how hard work can help an individual achieve love and greatness. Even when dealing with the hardest of challenges, there is always an underlying feeling of aspiration and optimism for the future.

That is what makes Halo and Naruto so very, very different. And what makes it incredibly hard to write a crossover without fundamentally changing either story.

Which brings us back to how I figured out how to make it all work...

—

The first chapter... or prologue.

Oh, how _easy_ it is for any decent writer to make a prologue that captures the target audience's attention.

The thing about prologues is that every story, both good and bad, starts with one, whether or not the author actually acknowledges the first chapter as one. If you don't have a prologue, you don't have a story. At least, not one that will get more than a few readers.

You see, the prologue of a story is what draws the reader in. It's the introduction to the world the writer has created. Its tells where we are, who we are dealing with, and, generally, what we should expect from the coming story. It sets the mood and atmosphere; gives us, the readers, a glimpse at the adventure we are about to undertake. Any good author knows this basic truth: the prologue is one of the most essential parts of the story.

But that just makes things that much easier.

More often than not, prologues are so easy to write because it's when the author is at his or her peak. At this moment, writers know _exactly_ what they want and how they want it. They are just _bursting_ with anticipation, excitement, and creativity; they can't wait to start showing people the world existing in their heads. There's this big sense of joy they have when sharing a part of themselves, and it's this feeling that allows them to pick up a pen – or keyboard – and starting putting down the words as if it's second nature. It's this reason primarily why prologues usually feel so fluid and easy to read, even when written by mediocre authors.

To be honest, though, planting the seeds of Halo: Iunctus was far easier than usual.

As with all other Halo stories, the ending of the third game in the series, Halo 3, gave what most consider to be a perfect opportunity. The way in which we had our main characters make a dashing escape, only to end up being teleported to a random location and left drifting in space, practically _begged_ fans to create fan-fictions.

It was like: _Hey! We have_ no clue _where the hell we are now! For all we know, we can end up landing on a planet occupied by tellytubies, so go ahead and knock yourselves out!_

The ending of Halo 3 really was as perfect as it could get. It was the finale of an epic trilogy and story spanning several years. It defined a genre of gaming for generations to come, and allowed people to no longer feel geeky or nerdy about liking Science Fiction; to hell with Captain Kirk or Luke Skywalker, we had the Master Chief – savior of the galaxy, _twice_ , and overall badass supersoldier – and Cortana – sexy, smart, and super likeable Artificial Intelligence. Sure, the ending was a little bittersweet, with our two heroes being left drifting in space for only god knows how long. However, with how it was _executed_ and how it played out – Master Chief saying "Wake me, when you need me," – we all knew from that point the ending couldn't be a better fit. We may not have known back in 2007 if Chief and Cortana would ever be rescued, but we _did_ know that their story was over, and they went out with, literally, a bang – all thanks to the Ark and Installation 04B going ka-boom.

So, the beginning of my story started out like most others: Cortana and Chief coming across some kind of planet or anomaly while drifting in space and waking up to a whole new challenge. Queue some internal dialogue, a reference to a Halo 3 TV trailer, random explosions, and Chief's trademarked drop from orbit.

And since this is also a Naruto story, add a little drama with one or two of our other main characters. _BAM_ , there's the prologue.

So. F**king. Easy.

—

Delays caused by real life aside, I began running into my first real problems writing Halo: Iunctus in the first half of the third chapter, The Unexpected. Not only was it the longest chapter I have ever written for any story, but it was also the deepest I have gone so far with the characters. Furthermore, it's the first time we see certain Chakra abilities like the Byakugan and Wood Clones in Halo: Iunctus.

At this point, I had already gotten in touch and began talking extensively with my new Beta Reader, Daniel. For the most part, we talked about where I planned on taking my story and how I planned on doing it. Our conversations always ended well, with both of us learning a lot from mutual research and experimenting on hypotheticals with my story's core ideas. For example, one of the first thing's we tackled was the problem with the Warthog's fuel.

The 4x4 offroad vehicle from Halo uses an advanced Hydrogen Fuel Cell engine, so the question was, how did it work on basic terms and what did it use as fuel? At first, my Beta believed it used water and some kind of pseudo-science chemical mixture as fuel; hypothetically, the Warthog would never run out as long as you stuck close to a water source. He took the HFC name quite literally. However, after some much more extensive research, we learned just how far we were from the truth. I'm not going to go on talking about the science behind Hydrogen Fuel Cell engines, but let's just say knowledge was gained. In a good way.

In any case, this chapter ended up being _very_ research heavy. Almost every paragraph that didn't involve dialogue had me going back to my web browser and searching up information on both the Naruto and Halo fan wikis. Not that I minded, though.

Truth is, I'm a research whore. I'm the type of writer that is _always_ trying to keep things as realistic and, in the case of fan fiction, lore-friendly as possible. I have an entire folder in Chrome's bookmarks bar labeled "Book Research," which contains dozens upon dozens of links to web pages with what I found to be essential information.

In my honest opinion, more writers should consider doing similar deeds.

Research is something many new authors simply fail or refuse to do, whether out of incompetence, laziness, or not knowing any better. As consequence, many of their stories end up being lackluster at best.

Research is everything. If you can't handle spending hours looking up information on the internet or in a book, you shouldn't write. It's that simple.

Which leads up to my first set of problems...

Dialogue.

Creating poorly written or out of character dialogue is perhaps one of the worse mistakes a writer can make, more so than failing to do proper research. But then again, doing so is not an easy feat.

Characters in any given story are always defined by their dialogue, whether that be the thoughts in their heads or the words they say out loud. Yes, their actions also play a major part, but you can't have, for example, an awesome villain and/or protagonist who speak like a bunch of illiterates. Language is so very important in a story and that carries over from simple descriptive writing to a character's dialogue. Don't tell me a person is supposed to have a high IQ and then have them make run-on sentences like a child. Vice versa, don't give me a character with a low IQ and have him speak like a philosopher.

Dialogue is another important form of learning about a character. The way in which they speak gives us better insight as to who they are, because no two people ever talk in the same exact fashion. All Human beings have different social cues and ticks, and it is often shown by the way we speak to the people around us. If you, the writer, fails to establish this, you've already made a fatal error in character development.

So how, exactly, did this problem arise for me? Well, it did the same way it would for anyone: writing conversations between characters.

The first instance took place when creating the interactions between Cortana and Chief while they were scavenging inside the wreckage of the _Forward Unto Dawn_. The reason these dialogues posed a greater problem than those of the last chapter was the subject matter behind them: Cortana's personality, and the early signs of her descent into rampancy.

Cortana... oh how hard it is to get her right. A super advanced AI, created from the blood and brain of Humanity's greatest mind. She possesses a highly unique personality, because while she tends to look at situations very logically, she is also a very sociable and sometimes emotional person. Like any other living, breathing Human, Cortana has worries, fears, affections, and all other kinds of personality quirks. Even though her matrix was created from a copy of Dr. Halsey's brain, she is very much her own individual.

Which, as always, makes things difficult.

God or evolution – whatever you want to believe put us on the Earth – made all of us Humans very diverse from each other. The reason why? That answer's above my paygrade, but I do know what that does to a writer.

Attempting to depict people and their endlessly unique personalities and interests is probably the hardest thing to do well in any story. Human beings are complex creatures and, in turn, are very hard to write. No man, woman, or child is the same as another; even twins have differences in their individual personalities. If everyone on planet Earth was the same, our lives would be mundane, boring, and not very special. Our diversity it what makes us unique and interesting. It is what makes us who we are as different people.

Imagine that writing two people talking is like having two unfinished picture puzzles sitting side-by-side. All the pieces that have yet to be used are mixed together in a single pile and, to make matters worse, that pile holds more pieces that aren't even part of the two sets you picked out. The finished halves of the puzzles represent what the speakers are showing on the outside; what they want others to see as a first impression. The scattered and unused pieces represent their inner selves; what they don't want the world to see, such as social cues, quirks, desires, etc. As the conversation goes on, you are trying to finish the puzzles simultaneously while picking from that one, giant pile. Like any other picture puzzle, the pieces you pick up might not fit anywhere until more progress is made. However, now you have the added challenge of going through pieces that might be meant for the second puzzle or, even worse, don't go to either one in the first place.

That is what writing dialogue is like. Each unique character has traits and quirks in their speech and personalities that only belongs to them alone. Figuring out and learning what those are for each is what's difficult. As such, portraying that inherent uniqueness of an individual in a story is incredibly frustrating.

As authors of fan fiction, writers like me have a step-up from those who create original novels simply because we already have, for the most part, well-established characters and settings. To alleviate the problems caused by dialogue, especially that of a complex AI entity like Cortana – who also has to deal with an incurable condition that had the possibility of fracturing her personality – the best solution is none other than research.

See, I wasn't just babbling away before.

As of right now, we have four games – I don't count Halo 5: Guardians – and a good number of books at our disposal that depict the personalities and backgrounds of our favorite characters. It doesn't make things too much easier, but it helps a lot when trying to adapt those individuals in a custom story such as Halo: Iunctus. You wouldn't believe how many hours I spent either looking up conversations between Cortana and Master Chief on YouTube, rereading their moments in the Fall of Reach novel, or talking to Daniel, who happens to be a near expert on Cortana – thank f**king God!

But you know what?

When I finished the chapters, and managed to stay true to her character, I knew all the hard work was worth it in the end. Well worth it.


End file.
